City and town go green alone

Sunday

Apr 29, 2007 at 2:00 AM

Mayor Michael Bloomberg envisions New York as "the first environmentally sustainable 21st-century city," reducing greenhouse gas emissions even as it grows by 1 million people. He has proposed a downpayment in the hundreds of millions of dollars in the $57 billion budget for the next fiscal year.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg envisions New York as "the first environmentally sustainable 21st-century city," reducing greenhouse gas emissions even as it grows by 1 million people. He has proposed a downpayment in the hundreds of millions of dollars in the $57 billion budget for the next fiscal year.

The Town of Woodstock wants to be carbon-neutral in a decade — that means keeping the emissions of carbon dioxide the same today as they will be in 2017 — through a combination of, among other efforts, green building, bike paths, tree planting and biodiesel municipal fleets. It is a more modest, less costly approach more in line with the abilities of a small town.

While Congress dithers and the White House denies, these two municipalities about 100 miles apart are setting an example by not waiting but by jumping in and doing something about a universal threat.

This will not be an easy road to travel with all the diversions along the way. The vice president believes that conservation is a personal lifestyle choice. On Fox News this week, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Denial, ranted about his discovery of hypocrisy in Hollywood. That's HYPOCRISY IN HOLLYWOOD. Those stars who are lending their names to green causes, he has concluded, live in large houses and ride in large vehicles. Apparently, that is supposed to send us all to the Hummer dealer in despair, turning on all the lights before we leave.

Instead, let us all agree to ignore Sheryl Crow and Jim Inhofe. Instead, let's pay attention to Randolph Horner of Woodstock, one of those who helped get the town board to approve a nonbinding resolution calling for "implementing policies resulting in no net emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases" by 2017.

Those who believe as he does — "We have 10 years to step back from the abyss" — can promote similar resolutions with similar components in their own communities.

Let us pay special attention to Michael Bloomberg and the projects large and small that have everyone talking.

Many of the mayor's ideas would work anywhere on different scales. He wants to plant more than 1 million trees in the next 10 years along with creating larger and deeper sidewalk tree pits; this, along with green roofs — that means a real roof garden — would help control storm water runoff. That's a plan wherever it rains.

He wants to create small public plazas throughout the city, a gesture in the direction of a walkable community that was very much part of the vision for Newburgh during its extensive planning sessions this winter. And the mayor wants to make sure that every New Yorker is within a 10-minute walk from a park, something that sounds irrelevant in the suburbs but that might actually be considered.

The roads in our subdivisions are filled with more drivers than walkers because the useful destinations are usually a drive away. Maybe we need to plan more communities where everyone is a 10-minute walk from something worth walking to.

Bloomberg also has a lot of infrastructure and industry in his sights, with requirements to make new buildings energy efficient and replacing old power plants. The reception of that idea, of course, depends on the fuel he wants to use as a replacement.

The most controversial part of his plan was the congestion charge, following the lead of London, which now charges drivers a fee for traveling on the most congested roads in that city. In an effort to cut down on traffic — with the byproduct of pushing people to mass transit — the city would collect $8 each time a car entered the busiest sections of Manhattan during workdays.

Bloomberg promised to make improvements in mass transit before beginning such a charge, which would form a nice internal cash loop, taking that money to fund some of the improvements.

As efforts go, these two in New York City and Woodstock could not be more different and more alike. Each, in its own way with its own resources matching its own efforts, sets forth an achievable goal and some very practical steps to reach it.

Together, their plans provide models for others to follow; more important, they make the larger point that people, villages, towns, counties, cities and states must do what they can and do what they should instead of waiting for national leadership that might never come.